Housing News
Married real estate couple faces fraud, conspiracy charges
Fraud is not rare, but fraud alleging that licensed real estate agents broke real estate laws in a contract pertaining to their own home IS quite rare.
Couple charged with fraud and conspiracy
The Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force at the U.S. Department of Justice has charged a Nevada couple with conspiracy and fraud for making false statements to Wells Fargo Bank in order to get it to approve a short sale on their home.
At the time of the alleged crime, Cynthia Hosbrook at Realty ONE Group had been an actively licensed real estate agent since 2000, but her status is now listed as inactive, and her husband Robert Hosbrook, who was licensed in 2009 is now listed as “closed” due to having expired in October 2010. The two are accused of using a relative as a straw buyer to purchase their residence in March 2010, when they were both actively licensed and therefore aware of general real estate laws.
Court documents claim the Hosbrooks falsified documents, reporting to Wells Fargo that their home would be sold in a short sale at arm’s length between two unrelated party and that no party was familial or business associates, and there was no agreement that the seller would remain in the property as a renter. But what allegedly took place was a relative falsely signed a fraudulent title company form in July 2010 stating that the relative would reside in the house, which the Feds say the Hosbrooks knew was false.
The couple faces fines up to $1 million on each count and could be penalized with up to 30 years in prison. They will appear in court this week to answer to charges.
The United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Nevada said in a statement that this is “part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.”
Further, they note that the task force is comprised of 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices, 20 federal agencies, as well as state and local partners. The FFETF has filed over 10,000 financial fraud cases in the past three years and “Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations.”
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
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Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
…Click here to continue reading this story…
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